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"Norman"--a Movie Review

“Norman: The Moderate Rise and Tragic Fall of a New York Fixer” is not a great film, not even a good film but definitely a smart film with a powerful performance by Richard Gere. This is not the Richard Gere who twice won the title of “Sexist Man Alive”.

Gere plays Norman, a schemer, a scammer, a fraud, weasel, a loser, pushy, a liar, a wheeler and dealer who has never met a person he didn’t see as a friend, who accidently meets with the deputy Israeli Minister of Trade Micha Eshel (played by Lior Ashkenazi) who Norman buys a very expensive pair of shoes and is remembered by the Minister 3 years later when he becomes the Prime Minister which leads to problems for both men.

How does Norman make a living? Where does he live? How does he have the money to pay that $1,459 for the shoes? Did he have a wife who died when their daughter was 3 years old? Does he have a daughter? Who is this man? He is dressed smartly with a camel hair coat, an expensive looking scarf and yet you wonder if he is homeless.

Norman’s nephew (Michael Sheen) keeps his distance from his uncle, while Norman’s rabbi (Steve Buscemi) believes he is an insider and can get the $14 million needed to save the synagogue. Alex (Charlotte Gainsgourg) tries to ignore the annoying Norman but her job as a legal expert for Israel based in New York is eventually brought into play when the problems with the Prime Minister and Norman come to the forefront.

Director /screenwriter Joseph Cedar makes you work to cross the T’s and dot the I’s but the solution to what has and is going on pays off when you do.

It is a big supporting cast with only one jarring portrayal, that of Hank Azaria, but that may be because I didn’t dot the i!

While I really can’t recommend the movie I would make it a ‘must see’ for Richard Gere’s starring in a role like none he has done before. Heck if nothing else check out what he did to his hair which definitely wouldn’t get him a Sexiest Man Alive in 2017!